You Are Sick Or Injured Do You Still Have Rights To Unemployment
In order to receive unemployment insurance benefits, you must be physically able to work, available for work, and ready and willing to immediately accept work. If you arent healthy, you may be entitled to disability benefits. In fact, qualification for disability benefits are decided by the same EDD department as unemployment insurance.
If you arent healthy, you may be entitled to disability benefits.
Californias State Disability Insurance program provides short-term benefits if you have lost wages because you are unable to work due to an illness or injury. If you think you qualify, you should apply for SDI benefits until you recover. Then, you can apply for EDD benefits.
The Questions That The Unemployment Interviewer Asks
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Although many applications for unemployment benefits are approved without issue, others are denied or have raised red flags that must be investigated. If a state unemployment agency has questions about an applicant’s eligibility for benefits or an employer has challenged the unemployment claim, then, usually the applicant will be scheduled for a phone interview or hearing. Although this process can induce anxiety, if an applicant prepares ahead of time, that can help the applicant establish that he is eligible for benefits.
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation
What is Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation ?
PEUC is a federal Continued Assistance Act program that extends benefits to those who have exhausted state unemployment benefits. This benefit ended September 4, 2021.
What does it mean to exhaust state unemployment benefits?
A person exhausts state unemployment benefits when he or she either draws all available benefits that could be paid, or reaches the end of the benefit year and is not monetarily eligible for a new benefit year. Also, the individual cannot be eligible to file a claim in any other state.
How long does PEUC run?
Under the March 2020 CARES Act, the PEUC extension program allowed an additional 13 weeks of benefits and the program expired on December 26, 2020. The Continued Assistance Act extended this program to expire the week ending March 13, 2021. Under the new American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 , the PEUC program expired the week ending September 4, 2021.
How do I apply for PEUC?
Once your state unemployment claim has a zero balance, you can apply for PEUC on our website at www.GetKansasBenefits.gov.
PEUC applications can only be filed online at this time.
Do I have to apply for the extension provided under the new ARP Act?
No. If you were previously filing for PEUC benefits, you do not have to file a new application for the additional weeks. You just need to continue filing weekly claims each week you are unemployed.
How much does PEUC pay each week?
PEUC is available for the following periods:
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Is It Better To Resign Before Being Dismissed
Tam advises employees who are feeling like a firing or layoff is imminent not to jump ship just yet, but start looking at opportunities within the company or elsewhere while youre still employed.
If you feel that there’s a misfit in your current job, make sure you don’t resign before you’re dismissed. You may potentially miss out on getting unemployment benefits, having an opportunity to change teams internally , or getting another job lined up externally. Create a plan to get feedback from others and work with your manager to improve yourself. At the same time network outside of your current job to line up an opportunity that’s a better fit.
Two Years After Being Laid Off A Tech Engineer Shares The Unexpected Things That Being Fired Taught Them
- An anonymous former Uber employee shared the silver lining of being laid off following massive layoffs in the tech industry.
- The poster felt ‘devastated and worthless’ but then realized they were more than their career.
Uncertainty around job security is on the rise as companies like Meta and Twitter lay off thousands, but someone who’s been there before says being fired has its benefits, too.
On Wednesday, an anonymous, self-described former Uber employee posted on the Blind app about their experience two years after they claim they were laid off from a tech position held for five years at the company.
The Blind app is an online community for professionals to anonymously share experiences in the workplace. Users must sign up with their company email to become a member, but this information is inaccessible to Insider to verify. The poster did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Uber laid off over 6,000 employees in May 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it’s unclear if the anonymous employee was among those terminated at the time.
“Back then I identified with who I was at work, a successful engineer who was doing great things that was going to make a difference,” the post read.
It continued: “I didn’t understand how this could have gone wrong, all the memories and the plans were just wiped by a phone call.”
Insider has summarized their key advice :
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The Employees Unemployment Benefits Were Approved What Does This Mean For Your Business
If an employee is ultimately determined eligible for unemployment benefits, then the amount of compensation he or she receives will be determined by the employees base period earnings. The base period is a 12-month timeframe beginning approximately 15 to 17 months prior to the date the claim is filed. The EDD generally omits the most recent three to five months before the claim and uses the 12 months before the omitted months as the base period.
Once the base period is established, the EDD divides the 12 months into four quarters. The highest quarter of earnings during the base period will determine the amount of benefits the employee will receive each week. The total amount that an employee may receive for a claim is either 26 times the weekly benefit amount or one half of the total base period wages, whichever is less. To be eligible for unemployment benefits, an employee must have earned at least $1,300 in one quarter of the employees base period, or have earned at least $900 in the highest quarter and total base period earnings of 1.25 times the employees highest quarter earnings. The minimum amount of benefits an employee can receive each week is $40 and the maximum amount is $450.
How Do I File A Claim For Unemployment
You have one week after you have lost your job or had your hours reduced to file your claim otherwise you may be subject to reduced benefits. Here is the information you will need to include in your claim:
- Your last employers company name, supervisors name, address, and phone number
- Last date you worked and the reason you no longer are working
- Gross earnings in the last week you worked
- Information on all the employers you worked for in the last 18 months
- Citizenship status, and if youre not a US citizen, information from your employment authorization document
If you were accepted to receive benefits, you will asked to continuously prove your eligibility every two weeks via a Continued Claim form. You can receive benefits for up to 26 weeks with a weekly payment of $450.
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Who Is Eligible For Unemployment Benefits
Not everyone who is unemployed is eligible for unemployment benefits. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of rules surrounding who can claim it, but in general, qualifying for unemployment is based on why the employee was let go.
To be eligible, an individual must be out of work for reasons beyond their control. Examples include layoffs, downsizing, lack of available work or furlough, such as due to COVID-19. They must also meet work and wage requirements, plus any additional requirements mandated by their state.
If an employee quits a job by their own choice, they typically wont receive unemployment benefits. However, if employees can prove good cause to quit, such as unsafe working conditions or harassment, they may still be eligible. March 2020s CARES Act expanded good cause possibilities to include pandemic-related reasons, like the need to care for a family member who tested positive for COVID-19. Those expanded benefits expired on September 6, 2021, yet there is always the possibility for more changes.
Terminated employees have certain rights, one of which is the right to receive unemployment compensation, if they qualify.
There are also several forms of misconduct that would exclude a fired employee from collecting unemployment benefits:
- Failing a drug test or reporting to work intoxicated.
- Safety violations.
- Sexual harassment.
- Causing abuse or harm to other employees.
What To Do After The Call
Immediately after the call, while it’s fresh in your mind, write down a summary of the conversation. Alternatively, although you are not allowed to record someone’s call without their permission, you are free to record what you have said.
Here is why this can be important: If the interviewer concludes you are ineligible for benefits, you have a right of appeal. At your appeal hearing, the judge will likely ask you to give an oral account of your position and of the circumstances that in your view substantiate and justify your eligibility. The same judge will also have notes taken by the phone interviewer. The last thing you want to do is give an account at the appeal hearing that conflicts with what you said during the phone interview. Having good notes on the call that you can review afterward and especially before your appeals hearing gives you a decided advantage.
References
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Fired Hired And Fired Again: Can You Collect Unemployment
- Publish date: Jul 8, 2011 7:00 AM EDT
If youve been laid off multiple times in a short period of time, you may be able to collect unemployment, but how much and how long varies widely from state to state.
NEW YORK For all the progress the economy has made since the recession ended, the job market only seems to be getting worse. The unemployment rate continues to hover around 9%, jobless claims have been on the rise for much of this year, and several reports show that more American companies small businesses in particular increased layoffs in June.
The unsteady job market has once again led many workers to question their job security. Nearly a quarter of those employed now fear there may be layoffs in the next six months, according to one survey by Glassdoor, the highest amount since the third quarter of 2009, right after the recession ended. Suddenly, those who managed to find work in the tough economy may be in danger of losing their positions at a time when the recession is supposed to be a thing of the past.
With the prospect of a double-dip job market looming for many American workers, a unique issue comes up: Can you collect unemployment again if youve already collected it for a previous job loss, and how long must you wait to claim benefits again?
How To Conduct The Call
Your role in the call is similar to the role of a witness giving testimony at trial. The interviewer will lead the call with his questions. Much of the good advice given to prospective witnesses applies to your situation:
Answer the question as briefly as possible. There are a couple of good reasons for keeping your answers short. First, your interviewer’s time on the call is limited if you ramble on you are making it tough for her to keep on schedule, which is irritating. Obviously, you do not want to irritate someone who may be deciding your benefit eligibility. Second, when you begin elaborating on your answers, you are “opening the door,” an informal legal term meaning once you have put any new information out there, your EDD interviewer has a right to follow it up. Sometimes this new information may work in your favor. More often, it won’t have any effect at all and may make you appear defensive. This could lead the interviewer to conclude based on the new information that you are ineligible.
Be polite. This seems obvious, but anyone who has ever spent time in a state unemployment office knows that clients are often loud, angry and rude. Remember that your interviewer does this about 40-hours a week. After being yelled at for a few hours, your interviewer will respond favorably to a polite applicant.
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Reasons That Dont Disqualify You
If you were fired for any of the reasons listed below, youre likely still eligible for benefits, as long as your actions weren’t intentional:
- inability to do the work
- personality conflicts, or
- poor performance.
Whether the reasons for your termination will disqualify you from receiving unemployment benefits depends on your state’s law and how it’s been interpreted by your state’s unemployment agency.
For information on your state’s unemployment eligibility laws, contact your state’s unemployment agency.
What If I Was Fired Or Laid Off For The Wrong Reasons
Discrimination in the workplace is very real, and sometimes people are fired or laid off for discriminatory reasonslike race, pregnancy, parental status, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disabilityunder the guise of poor performance or downsizing. This is called wrongful termination or wrongful dismissal.
You might tell your boss youre expecting only to be let go a month later because of a reorg . You might notice that you and several colleagues over the age of 40 are fired because of poor performance even though your numbers are stellar.
If you believe you have been terminated for discriminatory reasons, The very first thing you should do is gather and preserve any evidence you can before your access is removed, says employment attorney Susan Crumiller. Hopefully you have been documenting as you go, but if not, collect any emails, performance reviews, online chat messages, whatever you can. Also, do your best to figure out what relationships you want to preserve and reach out to those people. It can be invaluable to have witnesses inside the company after your departure.
Armed with your evidence, contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or a private employment attorney to discuss your options.
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Figuring Out If Youre Eligible
While the specific unemployment eligibility requirements may vary by where you live, there are a few general rules that apply in most cases. In order to be eligible for unemployment benefits, you must have lost your job through no fault of your own, be able and available to work, meet the income requirements, and be registered with the state workforce agency.
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How To Prepare For The Call
If the EDD wants to interview you, they will mail you a notice of the interview, giving the date and a two-hour window for the time of the call. Be sure to be available and not distracted.
The day before the call, sit down and review your application, making succinct notes about times and relevant dates. Often on the back of the interview notice, there will be a list of questions they may ask you. Review these beforehand and make summaries of your proposed answers. Go over these notes again an hour before your call.
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Many Workers Can Get 12 Weeks Of Unpaid Medical Leave With The Right To Return To Work
Under family/medical leave laws, you are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave from work to bond with a newborn baby or if you, your children, your parents, your spouse or your registered domestic partner have a serious health condition . During your leave, your employer must maintain your health benefits and must reinstate you to the same or equivalent position when you return. To qualify, you must meet the following criteria:
- Your employer must have 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of your worksite
- You have worked at your job for at least one year
- You have worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous 12 months
- If the leave is for a serious health condition, the condition must last for more than three days and involve continuing treatment by a health care provider.
Regardless of whether they meet the above employer-size or employment-length rules, workers who participate in the State Disability Insurance Program are entitled to a maximum of six weeks of partial pay each year while taking time off from work to bond with a newborn baby, newly adopted foster child, or to care for a seriously ill parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild, spouse or registered domestic partner.
Appealing To The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board
If the employer disagrees with the ALJs decision, you still have the option to file a letter of appeal with the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board . This appeal must be filed within 20 days of the mailing date of the ALJ decision, unless the employer can show good cause for filing it later. In the letter of appeal, the employer must be sure to identify the parties, the case number, the employees social security number, the employers reserve account, the name and mailing address of any representative, the ALJs decision and the reason for the appeal.
After the CUIAB receives the letter of appeal, it will send a letter to acknowledge receipt of the appeal. Within 10 days of this letter, the employer or employee must request to submit written or oral argument. The CUIAB generally does not consider new evidence in its decision, and only grants oral or written argument in cases when time permits or when there are unusual issues. The decision of whether to accept written or oral argument is solely at the discretion of the CUIAB.
Once a decision is made by the CUIAB, the employer will receive written notification in the mail. At this point, all administrative remedies are exhausted. If an employer wants to appeal the CUIABs decision, he or she must do so through the court system.
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